On October 5, Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair Randal Quarles delivered the unambiguous message – LIBOR is ending. During his speech at the Structured Finance Association conference, SFVegas 2021, Quarles said he expects to see the market transition to SOFR accelerating in these “final 87 days” of 2021.

On September 14, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler testified before the Senate Banking Committee at a hearing titled “Oversight of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.” In his testimony, Chair Gensler highlighted SEC priorities including the regulation of cryptocurrency and how the agency is examining disclosures around climate risk, human capital, and cybersecurity. The issue of requiring various standardized and mandatory disclosures for publicly traded companies was prevalent throughout the hearing.

Findings from a newly published report by Accenture found that investors across all demographics are increasingly demanding more holistic and less generic advice on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investments. Accenture surveyed 1,000 demographically diverse investors across the U.S. and Canada and found that nearly 60% of investors have asked for advice on ESG investments, and 84% plan to purchase an ESG product in the next year.

During a UNPRI webinar on July 28, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler announced the agency will aim to propose rules by the end of the year that will require corporations to publicly disclose the risks they face from climate change. The upcoming proposal will likely call for businesses to provide “qualitative” and “quantitative” information to investors as a mechanism for more market transparency.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to require public companies to report more information around climate risk and other environmental, social and governance disclosures (ESG).

On June 16, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1187, the Corporate Governance Improvement and Investor Protection Act, by a 215-214 largely party-line vote. The legislation incorporates five separate bills approved by the House Financial Services Committee in May and would require public companies to disclose data on political spending, climate change risks and mitigation efforts, and compensation inequality.

On June 11, SFA submitted a response to the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) request for comment on climate change disclosures.

While CEOs agreed unanimously on the need for federal LIBOR legislation, House and Senate lawmakers demonstrated they remain sharply divided on what role financial institutions and their regulators should play in confronting environmental and social challenges.

A recent client survey conducted by RBC Wealth Management showed that women are leading the charge on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing. Results found that women are more than twice as likely than men to say it is extremely important that the companies they invest in integrate ESG factors into their policies and decisions.

SFA and our ESG Steering Committee are seeking SFA Members to participate in a series of small focus group discussions to establish market participant preferences and priorities for our ESG considerations in structured products.